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Friday, November 21, 2008

Hat of the day is my first ever attempt at a Fair Isle hat created by myselfadapted from a mitten pattern. Of course I had to monkey around with the stitch count and play with motifs I wanted to use and add some extras, but overall thrilled with outcome...I took the basic premise of the skull hat by knitting a lining, then you do a purl row (your turning ridge) then you go into pattern for front.The fair isle portion with floats actually creates a double layer of knitting and since this is wool, double thick warmth...with the addedlining, it now has 3 layers...thus even warmer!I am proud to claim that this hat is for me!

I got the original idea by pouring over patterns on Ravelry for mittens and came across this clever designer, Kathleen Taylor who took a knitted vestand turned it into mittens.

see here on Ravelry:http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stranded-snow-mittens-child-sizeI also did a blog peek of her blog back on November 10 which can be found here:http://kathleen-dakotadreams.blogspot.comBelow is her mitten pattern, which is available for free.

This is my version done as a hat pattern, which I just emailed to Kathleen.She asked to see any finished mittens, so thought she'd like to see the hatas well.

Photo was taken while blocking and came out more fabulous when completely done, but was anxious to get photos out, so just assume it tightened up nicelyand stitches were no longer loose as they are during the blocking process.

I did not cast on same number of stitches as in skull hat nor follow any of pattern, nor use decrease finish, just created my own...I did however use same needle size and idea of added liner. I also added beaded eyes and mouthfelt it looked better than the embroidery floss.

Speaking of the weather...it's 26 degrees farenheit outside right now in Massachusetts where I live...I have a feeling it's going to be another longcold and snowy winter again....We have no snow yet, but I drove by the localsmall ski place a few miles away and they have been making snow for some timeby basically spraying water up in the air from pipes and because it's so cold,it turns to snow, crystalizes before it reaches the ground.I am thinking when finished Hats 30 days of posting...my next 30 days of knitting had better be set aside for knitting woolen mittens...perhaps even the snowman/snowflake pattern which could match my lovely new hat.

Blog of the day is: Kathryn IvyShe has loads of great patterns and ideas...check out the homemade mitten blockerwhich could also be fashioned into a sock blocker pretty easily...I first foundher sometime ago for her delicious mushroom patterns...but I like the how to on the little knitted felt patches, also ruffled scarf pattern, dyeing tututorials, and particularly cool how to go about making your own yarn scrapbook/knittingjournal...I keep one of these myself, and sadly...do not post every project as I should, but the ones I have posted are a great resource whenever I want to revisit them.